Deploy an Anyscale Cloud on GCP

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Before you run Ray workloads on Anyscale, an Anyscale organization member must deploy an Anyscale Cloud within a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) environment. This integration enables Anyscale to manage resources like compute instances and storage directly in a GCP project.

1. Prerequisites

Create a Google Cloud project for Anyscale to operate in.
Install the Google Cloud CLI.
Optional: Authenticate the Google Cloud CLI in the project.

2. Install the Anyscale CLI

Run the following command to install the Anyscale CLI and Python client package:

pip install -U "anyscale[gcp]"

To authenticate your credentials, run the following command, which fetches and updates the token that confirms your identity in the ~/.anyscale/credentials.json file.

anyscale login

If necessary, log in to the Anyscale console to complete authentication.

3. Choose an Anyscale Cloud deployment method

Deploying an Anyscale Cloud integrates Anyscale's capabilities into your GCP project to leverage its compute, storage, and networking resources for scalable, distributed computing.

You can use one of two different deployment methods that use the Anyscale CLI for Cloud configuration. Choose a method based on your organization's requirements.

anyscale cloud setup - Use for rapid deployment and a straightforward, low-maintenance solution; deploy in public subnets and access over public IP addresses without setting up additional networking infrastructure.
anyscale cloud register - Suited for teams with advanced cloud expertise, seeking enhanced security, custom private networking, and specific compliance needs.

4. Create an Anyscale Cloud

Based on the deployment method selected from the previous step, create an Anyscale Cloud with the following instructions.

⚡ (Auto) cloud setup
🎛️ (Custom) cloud register

For the anyscale cloud setup deployment method, Anyscale automatically creates and configures the necessary resources within your GCP project. You deploy Ray clusters in public subnets and access them using public IP addresses without needing to set up additional networking infrastructure like VPNs.

Note: To manually customize resources, use the (Custom) cloud register method instead.

Step 1: Verify permissions in the GCP project

Go to your role in the GCP project and ensure that your user account has the iam.serviceAccounts.setIamPolicy permission enabled so that Anyscale can grant Google Cloud Deployment Manager the permission to set IAM policies.

Step 2: Enable Google Cloud APIs

Enable the Cloud Resource Manager API so that Anyscale can enable all other required APIs.

Step 3: Deploy a new Cloud

Run the following command to deploy a new Cloud:

anyscale cloud setup
--provider gcp
--name ANYSCALE_CLOUD_NAME
--region GCP_COMPUTE_REGION
--project-id GCP_PROJECT_ID
--enable-head-node-fault-tolerance

🏁Optional flags

--enable-head-node-fault-tolerance: Enables head node fault tolerance in Anyscale Services by configuring an additional Memorystore instance for the Ray Global Control Store. Note that this flag extends the setup time by approximately 10 minutes.

For the anyscale cloud register deployment method, you are responsible for creating and configuring GCP resources needed to integrate with Anyscale. You define subnets to deploy Ray clusters and access them using public or private IP addresses.

This custom-defined networking requires you to configure the network paths between users, clusters, and the Anyscale Control Plane. Connectivity and network performance between users and clusters depends on your setup.

Note: Due to limited support for certificates on GCP internal load balancers, Anyscale Services created for private network clouds are exposed over http rather than https.

Step 1: Choose method for creating cloud resources

You have three methods for creating custom GCP infrastructure resources to connect to Anyscale:

(Recommended) Anyscale Provided Terraform module

Use this predefined set of configurations developed by Anyscale, which simplifies the setup process. Applying this module to your cloud environment configures the required resources in your GCP project.

For details and instructions on using this module, refer to the following resources:

Create your own Terraform module

You can create custom Terraform modules to tailor cloud resources and configurations to meet compliance requirements.

Create resources manually in the GCP Console

You can manually create resources in the GCP Console, which offers maximum customization but can be prone to manual errors.

Step 2: Create cloud resources

Cloud resources created in a GCP project must meet a list of minimum requirements to work with Anyscale.

Following the Anyscale Terraform getting started guide satisfies these requirements by default. For all other methods, perform the following steps:

GCP APIs

Enable the following Google Cloud APIs in the GCP project you use to host the Anyscale Cloud. See How to enable an API in your Google Cloud project.

API Name	Service Name	Description
Compute Engine API	compute.googleapis.com	Manages VM instances and other Compute Engine resources.
Cloud Filestore API	file.googleapis.com	Manages file storage for VM instances.
Cloud Storage API	storage-component.googleapis.com, storage.googleapis.com	Manages object storage for storing and accessing data.
Certificate Manager API	certificatemanager.googleapis.com	Manages SSL/TLS certificates and related settings.
Deployment Manager API	deploymentmanager.googleapis.com	Manages infrastructure deployment and calls other Google APIs.
Cloud Resource Manager API	cloudresourcemanager.googleapis.com	Manages Google Cloud resources like projects, folders, etc.
Service Usage API	serviceusage.googleapis.com	Manages Google Cloud service usage.
Cloud Memorystore for Redis API	redis.googleapis.com	Manages in-memory data store services on Google Cloud. Optional for enabling head node fault tolerance in services.

Service accounts

1. Create an Anyscale Access service account

Anyscale uses this to manage GCE instances and Ray clusters in your GCP project.

The service account must be the owner or editor role on the project.
The principal must be the Service Account Token Creator role on the service account itself.

2. Create a Ray Cluster service account

This is the default account attached to Ray clusters, modifiable for specific workload needs.

The service account must have read, write, and list permissions on the cloud storage bucket. The broadest way to grant permissions implicitly is to assign the Storage Admin role to both service accounts in the bucket policy.
To use custom docker environments, the service account must have the Artifact Registry Reader role.

Workload identity federation

1. Create a workload identity pool

Navigate to IAM & Admin in GCP and select Workload Identity Pools.
Create a pool, name it, and note down the name.

2. Create a workload identity provider

Within the identity pool, create a new provider.
Choose AWS as the external identity provider.
Input Anyscale's control plane AWS account number as the AWS account ID. You can obtain this number from Anyscale support.

3. Configure attributes

Within the workload identity provider, add the following mappings:

{
  "google.subject": "assertion.arn",
  "attribute.aws_role": "assertion.arn.contains('assumed-role') ? assertion.arn.extract('{account_arn}assumed-role/') + 'assumed-role/' + assertion.arn.extract('assumed-role/{role_name}/') : assertion.arn",
  "attribute.arn": "assertion.arn"
},

Add an attribute condition to restrict access to an organization-specific AWS IAM role in Anyscale's AWS account. Find your organization ID on the admin page.

google.subject.startsWith("arn:aws:sts::<Anyscale AWS #>:assumed-role/gcp_if_<Organization ID>")

4. Grant pool permissions

In IAM & Admin, navigate to Service Accounts.
Select the Anyscale Access service account.
Add an IAM binding with the role to the access service account:

{
  "role": "roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser",
  "members": [
    "principalSet://iam.googleapis.com/projects/<PROJECT_NUMBER>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<POOL_NAME>/attribute.role_name/arn:aws:sts::<Anyscale AWS #>:assumed-role/gcp_if_<Organization ID>"
  ]
}

VPC and subnets

1. Create VPC

Go to the VPC network section in the GCP console.
Select either custom or auto mode for your VPC creation.

2. Create Subnet

Anyscale requires exactly one subnet to launch instances.
Create a subnet within your VPC.
Ensure the subnet CIDR range is at least /24. A range of /20 or greater is preferable.
For valid GCP IPv4 ranges, refer to GCP documentation.

3. Configure Subnet Settings

By default, subnets are public with a route to the internet.
For a private subnet, use the --private-network flag in the cloud registry for Customer Defined Resources.

4. (Optional) Proxy-only Subnet for Private Network

If you plan to use Anyscale Services on a private network, create a proxy-only subnet.
This subnet must be in the same region as your cloud.

Firewall policy

Anyscale requires exactly one firewall policy associated with the VPC. This policy can be either global or regional and should include the following rules:

Allow ingress from 0.0.0.0/0 on ports 22 and 443. Note: You can scope down the 0.0.0.0/0 range for enhanced security.
Allow all traffic within the same subnet.

Filestore

Configure your Filestore to meet the following requirements:

Create a Filestore instance in the same VPC as the cloud.
Recommended: Create the Filestore instance in the same region as the cloud for optimal performance.
Recommended: Select a service tier suitable for anticipated scaling. Note: While you can increase Filestore capacity post-creation, the chosen service tier limits this capacity.

Cloud storage bucket

1. Service account access

Grant both the Anyscale Access service account and the Ray Cluster Node service account the following permissions to the bucket:

storage.buckets.get: Allows getting bucket information.
storage.objects.[get,list,create]: Permits listing and creating objects in a bucket.
storage.multipartUploads.[create,listParts,abort]: Enables managing multipart uploads.

Tip: The broadest role which encompasses these permissions is to assign the Storage Admin (roles/storage.admin) role to both service accounts in the bucket policy.

2. CORS configuration

Set up CORS as follows to enable using the Anyscale frontend to view data in the bucket:

  [
      {
        "origin": ["https://*.anyscale.com"],
        "method": ["GET", "PUT", "POST", "HEAD", "DELETE"],
        "responseHeader": ["*"],
        "maxAgeSeconds": 3600
      }
  ]

3. Bucket location and access best practices

Create the bucket in the same region as the cloud for reduced latency.
Configure the bucket to block all public access for security.
Use the default unified access control for simplified permissions management.

Warning

Anyscale does not assume responsibility for data loss. Implement GCS object versioning and configure lifecycle management policies for data retention. Refer to GCS Documentation on Object Versioning and Object Lifecycle for more details.

Optional: Memorystore instance

Configure your Memorystore instance to meet the following requirements:

Select the Standard tier with at least 5 GB memory.
Under the Configure read replicas dropdown, select at least one read replica. The instance should be in the same VPC as configured for the cloud.
Set maxmemory policy to allkeys-lru.
Disable Transport Layer Security (TLS) on the instance.

Step 3: Register Anyscale Cloud on GCP

After setting up the necessary resources, use the following command to register your Anyscale Cloud on GCP:

anyscale cloud register
--provider gcp
--name ANYSCALE_CLOUD_NAME
--region GCP_COMPUTE_REGION
--project-id GCP_PROJECT_ID
--vpc-name VPC_NAME
--subnet-names SUBNET_NAME
--filestore-instance-id FILESTORE_INSTANCE_ID
--filestore-location FILESTORE_LOCATION
--anyscale-service-account-email ANYSCALE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL
--instance-service-account-email INSTANCE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL
--firewall-policy-names FIREWALL_POLICY_NAME
--cloud-storage-bucket-name GCS_BUCKET_NAME
--provider-name PROVIDER_NAME

🏁Optional flags

--memorystore-instance-name MEMORYSTORE_NAME: Enables head node fault tolerance in Anyscale Services. Must configure Memorystore instance according to detailed resource requirements listed in the previous step.

--private-network: Enables private networking on private subnets and IP addresses.

--functional-verify workspace: Launches a test Workspace to verify validity of resources.

--functional-verify service: Launches a test Service to verify validity of resources.

5. Verify Cloud resources

To ensure that your Anyscale Cloud works as expected, launch a test Workspace or Service from your Cloud. Run the following CLI command to trigger a functional verification:

anyscale cloud verify --name CLOUD_NAME --functional-verify workspace,service

Glossary of cloud resources

Service accounts
- Anyscale Access service account: Used by Anyscale to manage Google Compute Engine (GCE) instances and Ray clusters within your GCP project.
- Ray Cluster service account: The default service account attached to Ray clusters. You can customize this account to meet the specific needs and permissions required by your workload.
Workload identity federation: A mechanism that allows Anyscale to exchange control plane AWS role credentials for time-bound GCP service account credentials.
VPC and subnets
- Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): A virtual network within your GCP project. Anyscale deploys each Cloud in its own VPC, providing logical isolation from others.
- Subnets: Ranges of IP addresses within your VPC. GCP resources like GCE VM instances are attached to these subnets. Anyscale deploys workloads within these defined VPCs and subnets.
Firewall policies
- Collections of firewall rules that secure the cloud environment by controlling incoming and outgoing traffic to GCP resources. Anyscale requires specific firewall rules to enable access to its suite of components and applications, such as Jupyter Labs, Ray Dashboard, Ray Serve endpoints, and Workspaces.
Filestore
- A cloud-based network file system compatible with other GCP services. It offers shared storage, scalable performance, and compliance with regulatory standards. Required for Anyscale Workspaces, Filestore supports applications and workloads that need shared storage.
Cloud storage bucket
- A scalable and secure object storage service. Anyscale uses the specified cloud storage bucket for various functions supporting the management of Ray clusters and Ray applications. This includes general data storage persisting beyond the cluster lifespan and storing model checkpoints for tools like Ray Tune or RLlib.

Appendix: Minimal IAM Permissions for cloud commands

This section provides the minimal IAM permissions required for the Anyscale CLI to perform cloud operations. As an GCP administrator, follow these steps to apply the policy:

Create a new custom role or edit an existing role to include the following permissions.
- See GCP documentation on Create and manage custom roles for more information.
Grant the role to the service account that will be used to run the Anyscale CLI.
- See GCP documentation on Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations for more information.

⚡ (Auto) cloud setup
🎛️ (Custom) cloud register

certificatemanager.certmapentries.delete
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compute.firewallPolicies.get
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deploymentmanager.deployments.create
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iam.workloadIdentityPoolProviders.create
iam.workloadIdentityPools.create
iam.workloadIdentityPools.get
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resourcemanager.projects.getIamPolicy
resourcemanager.projects.setIamPolicy
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certificatemanager.certs.delete
certificatemanager.certs.get
certificatemanager.certs.list
compute.firewallPolicies.get
iam.serviceAccounts.getIamPolicy
iam.serviceAccounts.get
storage.buckets.getIamPolicy
compute.subnetworks.get
file.instances.get
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resourcemanager.projects.getIamPolicy
resourcemanager.projects.get
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1. Prerequisites​

2. Install the Anyscale CLI​

3. Choose an Anyscale Cloud deployment method​

4. Create an Anyscale Cloud​

5. Verify Cloud resources​

Glossary of cloud resources​

Appendix: Minimal IAM Permissions for cloud commands​